'Double whammy' of flu and strikes a risk to patients, Streeting says
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has expressed concern about a double whammy
of increasing numbers of flu patients in hospitals and imminent strikes in England next week. Streeting said the current situation was "probably the worst pressure the NHS has faced since Covid. There were 2,660 flu cases in hospital a day on average, which NHS England estimated was the equivalent of having three hospitals full of flu patients. On December 17, a five-day strike by resident doctors in England, the new name for junior doctors, is scheduled to begin.
'Super flu' circulating
There are fears that the strike will be called off. With the results of the election set to be announced on Monday, the doctors' union, the British Medical Association, has agreed to poll its members to see if they are able to call off the walkout. Streeting wondered why the BMA hadn't declined to postpone the strike until January if they wanted to just give me a kicking.
I can only assume that the reason they refuse to do it is because they know that this week will be the most difficult for the NHS.
super flu,The number of patients in hospitals with influenza has risen by more than half in the last week, with officials advising that there are no signs of it peaking yet. Influenza has arrived early this winter, and it seems that a new mutated version of the virus is particularly bad, according to experts. Many people are now saying it is
well within the boundariesbut it is not more severe or difficult to handle. In another interview, the health minister said there were no proposals to ask the general public to wear masks, but if people visiting hospitals or care homes were encouraged to wear one, he would encourage them to do so. The flu epidemic was
nothing like the 2020 pandemic. He advised that writers must choose their words carefully to ensure they do not cause panic.of what the NHS could cope with and that hospitals were better prepared for large disease outbreaks since the Covid pandemic, according to Chris Streather, the medical director of the NHS in London. Speculation is unhelpful and can cause people to be concerned, he said. The number of patients in hospital with flu is at its highest rate at this time of year since records were established in 2021, but they did not record the two worst flu seasons in 2014-15 and 2017-18, which were seen in 2014-25 and 2017-2018. Officials said the number of cases had continued rising throughout the week, with fears that they would reach 5,000 by the weekend. The number of confirmed cases in Scotland increased by almost a quarter in the last week, compared to the number of people admitted to a hospital for flu rose by nearly a third, although the number among people admitted for flu in the hospital According to health officials, the picture in Wales and Northern Ireland was similar, with children and young people particularly vulnerable. Any schools have had to withhold Covid-like steps to discourage the virus from spreading. One site in Caerphilly had to close temporarilywhilesome schools in Aberdeenshire, according to their hours. The highest positivity for flu in England was among children and young people aged five to 14. However, hospital admission rates for flu in England are the highest among people over 75 and children under the age 5. Despite the sudden rise in infections, NHS London's medical director Chris Streather said the problem was
he said.The NHS is doing well at the moment, but flu rates are also on the rise, and in some ways we can't tell until it has hit a peak,
McGuire said, with staff being pushed to the limit to continue providing the highest quality possible care for patients. According to a Times column, the number of people admitted to hospital with fluThis unprecedented series of super flu is leaving the NHS in this worst-case scenario for this year,
precarious situation,could triple by the time of the pressures rises, and the NHS doesn't know when the peak will reach. The NHS was also in a
Jenga pieceand he warned that resident doctors' planned strikes next week could be the
appealing specifically to resident doctors to accept the government's invitationthat crumbles the tower. Streeters were encouraged to get a flu jab, despite the fact that 17 million people have already been vaccinated against the virus. Flu rates were up a month earlier this year than average, owing to a mutated strain of the virus. H3N2 is the most common strain, but there have been some genetic mutations this year. It means that the general population has never seen this particular strain of flu before, which means there is perhaps less immunity. The number of patients in hospitals with the vomiting bug norovirus was also on the rise, according to NHS England, with more than 350 beds occupied by the disease. Streeting said he was
irrelevantand prevent their planned strike from occurring. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has accused the BMA of being
particularly in the run-up to Christmas, particularly when we have a flu epidemic, it will go forward.and that it should accept it, but added that if they avoid strike action
The NHS is in the middle of a storm,Daniel Elkeles, a hospital, said. Flu is affecting people, and other winter bugs are also on the rise.
We must hope that BMA resident doctors take a step back from next week's strike, take up the government's helpful offer and put an end to the damaging conflict.The NHS needs all hands on deck now more than ever.
said BMA resident doctors committee chairman Dr. Jack Fletcher earlier this week. They hadThe offer from the government came as a result of thousands of residents who demonstrated that they are able to stand up for their work and its future,
the minister said, but that the offer did not include physicians' salaries. According to government statistics (UKHSA), infections in the community as well as hospitals, are increasing, but not as much as they were in the previous week. Officials said it was too early to take that as a sign that flu is peaking, but that the virus was variable, and a lull could be followed by another surge. Dr. Conall Watson, an infectious diseases specialist at the UKHSA, urged people who are eligible for a free flu vaccine on the NHS, including those with certain health problems and pregnant women, to continue to register ahead of the Christmas period. Following vaccination, it can take up to two weeks to achieve complete immunity from the jab, according to Dr Watson. Dr. Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, accused NHS England and the government of using winter viruses as aforced the government to acknowledge the severity of the crisis,
convenient scapegoatfor the
predictable decreasein NHS capacity due to workforce shortages.
Member of Westminster and beyond" Subscribe to our Politics newsletter to stay up to date with Westminster's internal workings and beyond.The situation in emergency services has deteriorated so much that what was once thought to be a critical event is now seen as normal and normal. What's happening isn't an isolated emergency, but rather the culmination of systemic failure.
